ritory, some of which are in marine and estuarine 
areas.** 
These efforts on the part of the Federal Govern- 
ment to encourage and sustain marine recreational 
fishing, matched by State efforts toward the same 
end, lead to one of the major issues raised by recre- 
ational fishing: What is the value of this activity 
relative to commercial fishing? Table 3-8 lists a host 
of species of fish sought by both recreational and 
commercial fishers on all coasts. 
The competition for fish coupled with growth of 
saltwater angling as a leisure activity has heightened 
the conflicts between recreational and commercial 
interests. The number of people in recreational fish- 
ing has grown from 6.2 million in 1960 to 9.4 mil- 
lion in 1970 and to an estimated 16.4 million at the 
present.*® The increasing number of people buying 
licenses for recreational fishing sometimes leads to 
“George H. Siehl, Analyst, Congressional Research Service, 
Library of Congress. 
*Tohn WV. Merriner, Virginia Institute of Marine Science. 
Paper at Marine Recreational Fisheries Conference, New Orleans, 
February 27, 1976. Sport Fishing Institute, Washington, D.C., 
p. 123. 
pressure in the States to restrict commercial taking 
of fish valued for recreation. Sometimes the result is 
to ban commercial harvest or to apply equipment 
restrictions that curtail commercial activity. 
Among the many examples of recreational-com- 
mercial conflict is the anchovy in California. It is 
caught commercially for fishmeal and is used as bait 
in recreational fishing. Further, the anchovy is an im- 
portant source of forage for many species of interest to 
recreational fishers. The argument came down to 
whether the commercial take should have been 
allowed to increase beyond a level of 242 million 
pounds in 1974. NMFS said the catch could be in- 
creased without harm. California State fish and game 
officials and recreational fish interests opposed an 
increase, because anchovy is food for a number of 
game fish.*® 
Situations such as this place the Federal Govern- 
ment squarely in the middle of what can be bitter 
disputes. The present regulations are for the most 
part promulgated by State governments, certainly for 
activity within the 3-mile territorial sea; however, the 
# U.S. Comptroller General, op. cit. note 4, p. 23. 
Oceanic region 
Table 3—-8—Fish species sought by recreational and commercial fishers * 
Northeast Atlantic: 
Maine to New York 
Atlantic and Gulf Coasts 
Mid-Atlantic: New 
Jersey to North 
Carolina 
Offshore: beyond 
3 miles 
Inshore: shore 
and small-boat 
fishing out to 3 
miles 
Oceanic region 
Offshore 
Inshore 
cod, pollock, porgies, 
haddock, boston mac- 
kerel, bluefish, black- 
fish, flounders, hake, 
ling, whiting, swordfish, 
tuna, sea bass 
blackfish, bluefish, 
striped bass, hake, 
flounders, smelt, shad, 
whiting, sea bass, white 
perch, weakfish 
South Pacific: 
Southern California 
yellowtail tuna, mack- 
erels, sea bass, rockfish, 
snapper, ling, albacore, 
bonito 
rockfish, sea bass, floun- 
ders, surf perch, opal 
eye, striped bass, shad, 
corbina, corvina, ling 
South Atlantic: South 
Carolina to Florida 
Gulf of Mexico 
swordfish, tuna, boston 
mackerel, bluefish, cod, 
hake, haddock, whiting, 
flounders, sea bass, pol- 
lock, porgies, ling, 
blackfish 
weakfish, porgies, croak- 
ers, spot, spotted weak- 
fish, shad, striped bass, 
bluefish, blackfish, white 
perch, sea bass 
Pacific Coast 
Mid-Pacific: Northern 
California to Canada 
snappers, groupers, king 
mackerel, swordfish, 
grunts, porgies, blue- 
fish, tuna, flounders, sea 
bass 
sea bass, grunts, chan- 
nel bass, blackdrum, 
weakfish, spotted weak- 
fish, flounders, pom- 
pano, groupers, snap- 
pers, croakers, striped 
bass, shad, white perch, 
spanish mackerel 
Alaska 
cod, black cod, ling, 
rockfish, albacore, floun- 
ders, salmon, sea-run 
trout, halibut 
striped bass, shad, sal- 
mon, sea-run trout, surf 
perch, opal eye, floun- 
ders 
salmon, cod, rockfish, 
halibut, flounders, sea- 
run trout 
halibut, salmon, sea-run 
trout, cod, rockfish, 
flounders 
groupers, snappers, 
tuna, king mackerel, 
grunts, sea bass, blue- 
fish, dolphin fish 
channel bass, black- 
drum, spotted weakfish, 
flounders, sea _ bass, 
groupers, snappers, co- 
bia, spanish mackerel, 
bluefish, grunts 
1Source: U.S. Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, George Siehl, “Recreation and the Coastal Zone,’ Washington, 
D.C., Library of Congress, September 8, 1977, p. 9. 
III-30 
